Lawrence applied his mind to the essential strategic problem the Turks faced in Arabia [in World War I] and how the disparate, competitive tribes best could exploit this problem. He saw what the British military leadership in Cairo did not see: that the Hejaz Railway [from Damascus to Medina, Arabia] was the Achilles' Heel of the Turks and could be used against them. Read more >>

Until [World War I] occurred, the imperial powers of Europe—notably Britain, France, and Russia—controlled much of the world’s underdeveloped territory and most of the world’s seaborne trade. Britain was incomparably the leader. Read more >>

On February 23, 1917, after carefully concealing the fact that Britain had broken the German diplomatic code, Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour presented the telegram to the American ambassador in London. Read more >>

By the last decades of the nineteenth century, the lesson of Cannae [won by Hannibal in Italy in 216 B.C.] was directed most often not at attaining victory in one local tactical decision, but rather was used in planning strategic campaigns to achieve total victory. Read more >>